Man Vs world. Man wins.

Dave Cornthwaite: a true inspiration for gappers

One of the best things about taking a gap year is returning home with the kind of tales that'll have jaws grazing the pub carpet. It's an adventure like no other. You'll see amazing sights, you'll do awesome things and you'll meet incredible people.

But some people raise the adventure bar to such dizzying heights the only thing to do is stand back and applaud. One of those characters is a man called Dave Cornthwaite.

In a previous life Dave was a graphic designer, but at the age of 25, bored and disillusioned, he decided to become a professional explorer instead.

His goal is simple, if a little ambitious: to undertake 25 separate journeys of at least 1,000 miles using non-motorised transport. The project is called Expedition1000.

We spoke to Dave last year, when he had completed six of the journeys, and since then he's ticked off two more: swimming 1,000 miles along the lower Missouri River and riding an ElliptiGO bicycle for 2,000 miles through Western Europe.

His other six epic feats are as follows: skateboarding 3,618 miles from Perth to Brisbane, Australia; kayaking 1,476 miles along the Murray River, Australia; tandem cycling 1,396 miles from Vancouver, Canada, to Las Vegas, USA; paddleboarding 2,404 miles along the Mississippi River, USA; sailing 3,156 miles from Mexico to Hawaii; and pedalling a bike car 1,000 miles from Memphis to Miami, USA.

In total Dave has covered over 16,000 miles and raised more than £100,000 for breast cancer. And he recently shouldered Bear Grylls from number one spot in the adventure section with his best-selling book Life in the Slow Lane.